Okay ladies and gentlemen, it's time for us to talk about the one thing we don't talk about too much here in the Game Room... badass laddies in gaming. We all love 'em, we all know 'em... but who are some of your favs?

I'm gonna start off with just one for now:

SAMUS ARAN

Outside of Ms. Pac-Man, Samus is the original badass chick of gaming. Tough, smart, and armed to the teeth with the coolest weapons known to man, this lady took on an entire planet of hostile aliens to take down the mother of all beings: The Mother Brain. She's the Ripley of gaming. While there are other females to be mentioned for sure, Samus can't go without being the first one mentioned in this thread.

I never really got into Perfect Dark Zero but the N64 version was classic. I got it D/Led on my Xbox 360 about a year or so ago.

Right on the heels of Goldeneye it was a great successor. Me, my Dad and my brother spent hours on Perfect Dark as kids. I remember my Dad always got this Nintendo Magazine every month and Joanna Dark was constantly touted as superior to Lara Croft in just about every way. Which wasn't susprising given now Nintendo and Sony were in direct competition with each other at the time.

She certainly influenced my long videogaming career because I was young enough to think she was cool.

Actually, one of my two female versions of Shepard is called Joanna in recognition if I recall.

Seung Mina pretty much IS Soul Calibur for me. My favorite fighter and also the best moves that match my play style (which is why I might be skipping the new game. Seung Mina or GTFO for me.

Of course the very definition of female badass has to be Ms. Croft herself:

I love her even though she constantly dies horrible deaths at my hand.

But for me? My very, very favorite female badass is the mysterious ninja herself, she of the insatiable appetite for materia, Yuffie Kisaragi!!! Lara is traditional badass but Yuffie provides just the right amount of insanity that appeals to me personally.

Oh and a runner up to Yuffie?

Rikku from Final Fantasy 10. She just misses my top pick by "that much". And really it's Yuffie's manic grin at life that does it. Of course she can stomp your face and steal your materia because she is just that good.

That said, Rikku was the best character in one of my favorite games so that is saying a lot.

And yes, I picked the more modest FF10 version, yes the X-2 version wore less and is fun to look at but I like the more serious original Rikku better.

It is. I expect that there will be more activity as time goes on. I'll comment more myself a bit later. I'm a little busy at the moment to spend a lot of time commenting right now.

It's just the last time we did this the thread blew a hole in the roof with all the activity. Plus it's a great subject because we can all reach agreement easily and get some great titles to check out if we haven't played one of the games.

Anyway, at least I got to cruise the net for some great pictures.

Here is another character for everyone, I like her since she is one of the very few lead characters who happens to be a woman (rare!) and black (HOLY CRAP!).

But for me? My very, very favorite female badass is the mysterious ninja herself, she of the insatiable appetite for materia, Yuffie Kisaragi!!! Lara is traditional badass but Yuffie provides just the right amount of insanity that appeals to me personally.

Yuffie was being a very bad girl in FFVII. Make me have to work to get back all my materia that I already worked so hard for. Love the lady, but she certainly was a pain in the butt... lol.

I'm going to add Terra to the list. She may not be a traditional badass, but this lady is tough, smart, and, well... the last of her kind. FFVI is my favorite Final Fantasy game by far, and Terra is my favorite female character from that game.

Next I want to mention Rydia from FFIV. As a massively powerful summoner, there are few characters in the FF universe that could stand up to her. She's probably within my top 10 favorite characters in the entire FF series, male or female. Terra is probably my number one female character in the FF universe overall, but Rydia isn't too far behind on that list.

For me, I'm going to have to go with Lara Croft. However, I'm going to be more specific and single out the newer versions of the character found in Legend, Anniversary, and Underworld. Not only is Lara more realistic looking (as realistic as a heavily cartoony woman with exaggerated features can be anyway), but she's a more complex character that does more than simply say cheesy lines and run around showing off obnoxiously large triangular breasts. Keeley Hawes also really helps bring Lara to life in ways that previous VAs didn't.

"My sexuality's not the most interesting thing about me."— Cosima Niehaus, Orphan Black, "Governed By Sound Reason and True Religion"

However, as much as I like Jill I have to say I loved slaughtering the undead with this lady:

Sheva is awesome. The only reason she didn't get a mention up abive is you don't get to find out enough about her in the game and I had to glare at the series when you got to unlock a jungle girl outfit for her. Really? REALLY? She's black and from Africa so of COURSE she wears animal skins and warpaint. I like silly fan service outfits as much as the next guy but next time lets think before we draw OK? *Facepalm/Wince*

I have to go to work soon so I don't have time to add pictures but I will later tonight. Anyway here are my picks.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Hey, she had two way better than they had any right to be video games. Her two games were the right way to to a tie in video game.

I'll also add Jill Valentine to my list. Along with Claire and Sheva. The RE series is pretty good at making badass female characters.

While she's not a playable character, I think Elena Fisher from the Uncharted series deserves a mention. She's right there with Drake for all three of his adventures and does quite a bit of crazy stuff herself.

Rubi Malone from Wet. First, she's voiced by Eliza Dushku. That bumps her way up there in my opinion. Second she's a badass mercenary who will mess you up if you double-cross her.

Edited by Virgil Vox, 24 February 2012 - 11:00 AM.

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